November...In a Nutshell.

November was good to us as well. Ethan is quite the artist and fills up our trash can with lots and lots of paper! At least he is really good about not wanting to keep it and throws them away. He has quite the imagination and loves to make books and then read them to me. He has also become quite the proficient cutter!

We sure do love this sweet little boy! Even though he gives us a run for our money with his sometimes defiant and strong willed personality, he still has a sweet side and is good about giving us plenty of hugs and lots of I love you's. 

We met up at the park one day with my old BYU roomie, Marcelle, and had fun letting the kids play and run around while we chatted. I need to be better at getting some pictures of her and her cute boy Talmage before they move to Tucson next summer :( 

The ducks are always a big hit with the little misses...

And don't let her concerned face fool you, she loves to swing!

Ethan happily spent $2 of his own money to ride this dinky little ride. This is proof that he still doesn't quite have the whole money concept down! But he was terrifically happy with his purchase nonetheless. 

For Thanksgiving we flew out to the great state of TX to spend the holiday with my family. Ellie is a terrible flier and it made our flight there and back miserable. She is one of these that likes her independence of moving around freely and that doesn't quite go along with the airplane rules. This makes for a grumpy, usually tired, screaming pre-toddler and lots of looks from nearby passengers. 

Funny story: About half way through the flight, Ellie had had it and was uncontrollably crying, screaming, you name it. Justin, being the awesome dad that he is, took charge and took her into the bathroom (a few rows in front of us) to try to get her in a quiet place where she could settle down and fall asleep. Sometimes we just have to hold her tightly and she will eventually give up and go to sleep. So they went in there and all you could hear from the outside was screaming, like a terrified screaming. Everyone around us was whispering to their neighbors, looking back over their shoulders at me and then to the bathroom, etc. I wanted to just stand up and say, "He's not suffocating her, OK! Yes, I'm letting him take her in there because he is trying to help her go to sleep! GOSH!" But I didn't and just endured the stares. He eventually came out about 10 min later, unsuccessful. It was not a fun flight!

Well, that wasn't really a funny story but at least it was a memory!

Back to TX... it was great! We always love going home because it is super chill and there are no worries there! The kids, as always, loved all the animals and the free space to run around and get dirty!

Ellie loved Pumpkin and was actually pretty soft with him!

Her favorite part was feeding the dogs through the fence. These dogs are huge and have tons of energy so it was best that they were caged up while the kids were outside. 

Ethan enjoyed it too. He would always sit, "Sit!" a billion times before he gave the dogs their satsumas. Those dogs may be wild but they were sure patient with Ethan's commands!

Ethan helped Grandpa put up the Christmas lights around the tree and both he and Ellie were big helpers in decorating it.

Ellie was so cute sitting in the little bathtub while talking on the phone. She is so cute with her little "Halo's!" that she says while answering the phone.

The yummy satsuma trees were in full bloom and made the backyard so pretty. Maddie the cat enjoys scratching her back against the fruit.

Of course the kiddos couldn't get enough time outside! They loved it! It made me realize even more just how much we need a backyard. Ellie and Ethan loved the sand pit and were always filthy after playing in it with the tractors.

It was a family affair with playing some baseball outside!

I love this picture because Ethan is acting like Justin is throwing it 100 mph at him! Ok, so maybe he was. For the most part though,  he did pretty good with catching daddy's fastballs :)

The Greg & Becky Sims Family! 

It was so good to see Chad (my brother), his wife Jessica, and their sweet little baby Payton! I can't believe that this is the only picture I have of them! Payton is our first nephew and is sure a cutie at only 5 weeks old! I'll do better next time about getting pictures, I promise!

Other things we did that aren't pictured: 

• We went Black Friday shopping but at 10am the next morning. It was great. 
• Visited my sweet grandparents who spoiled us (and our kids) and I'm still mad at myself for not getting a picture with them either! They took our kids to McDonalds which is always something Ethan looks forward to. Probably because I never take them. *Side note*My grandpa just had a major spine operation and is recovering great! He had his intense neck brace on when we saw him but it didn't seem to bother the kids at all. 
• Saw lots of my extended family and had fun getting caught up and visiting with them.
• Saw some old friends: The Willamson's and my good friends Christina and Jamie. I missed seeing you too Donna!

It was a great visit and we are looking forward to the next time we get to go back home! Thanks for hosting and feeding our large group Mom and Dad!!

I want to write down a few memories about our little miss Ellie too.

Oh we just adore this little girl of ours! Her cute little personality is just shining through and Justin and I find ourselves at night just laughing at the funny things she has said or did that day. 

She loves to hum. I hear her humming all over the house when she is playing or when she is playing in her crib when she wakes up. It is so cute!

She will tell me she wants something and if I say not right now she gives me the cutest little "Whhhhhhy?" It's not an annoying why but a sweet, innocent one. It makes me laugh everytime.

This is her partner in crime:

She uses this thing to get anything she wants. It's double worse that she is a very proficient climber as well :)

She adores her daddy. Adores. She constantly asks for him and if anyone knocks on the door, she runs to the door saying "Daddy! Daddy!" So, so cute. She loves to use him as her personal jungle gym! 

She is getting more hair! And it's curly! Yay! I knew it would be worth the wait. She wakes up with more and more bed head everyday. This is exciting stuff folks! I cant tell you though how many people come up to her and rub her head and just oohh and ahhh over that fuzz. :)

She eats salsa by the spoonfuls. Weird, I know.  So far it hasn't done any damage to her diaper region.

She is talking so much! I still can only understand about 20% of what she says but it's so cute to hear her put words together and jibber jabber all day long. She has just recently started putting "This"(sounds like Tis) and the object together. For example, she will say, "This agua!"when pointing to her water or "This Oy!" when pointing to a toy. I'm so happy that she finally started talking!

We just adore our two kiddos and are excited to add a sweet number 3. Yes, I'm still pregnant and the baby is growing just fine! I'm about 17 or maybe 18 (I don't know anymore!) weeks along and I am feeling great! Such a blessing :)